It's time for my college basketball awards for this week. We'll do these every Monday during the season and I'll always lead with my picks for the team and player of the week.
Here are this week's winners, based on games through Dec. 13.
Team of the Week: Missouri — The Tigers beat rival Illinois in the Braggin’ Rights game and served notice that they are just as viable a team to win the SEC as any other.
Player of the Week: San Diego State senior Jordan Schakel — Schakel scored 25 points and made five 3-pointers in a convincing 80-68 win at Arizona State. The Aztecs are clearly one of the top teams in the West — yet again.
The Luka Garza paragraph: We could hand a weekly award to Iowa senior forward Luka Garza every week. Garza scored 34 points in 17 minutes in a rout of rival Iowa State.
Rising star: Kansas’s Jalen Wilson — The Kansas wing scored 23 points in the one-point win over Creighton. He’s averaging 15 points a game and shooting 50 percent from the field.
Best game: Kansas, 73, Creighton 72 — The Jayhawks escaped at Phog Allen Fieldhouse with the one-point win. The game easily could be replayed in late March, early April.
Best stat line: Pitt’s Justin Champagnie — He had back-to-back 20-point and 20-rebound games. Champagnie scored 20 and grabbed 20 boards and had a game-winning slam to beat Northwestern. He followed that up with a 24/21 game in a win over Gardner-Webb.
Hottest team on pause: Xavier — Xavier beat Oklahoma at home and was the first team in the country to go to 7-0 before it had to pause before its Big East opener at Providence.
Team on the rise: Clemson — The Tigers have banked three quality wins prior to the ACC by beating Purdue in Florida and then last week knocking off Maryland at home and Alabama in Atlanta.
Making his mark: Scottie Barnes — Florida State freshman Scottie Barnes hit a running floater to take down Indiana in one of the best games of the week.
Best bounce-back: Notre Dame — The Irish blew an 11-point lead against Ohio State but then scored their first-ever win at Kentucky a few days later. The Irish were up 22 at the half and held on for a one-point win over the Wildcats.
